Everything You Need To Know About Pre-Employment Testing

The foundation of every successful organization lies in it happy, efficient and productive workforce. At the same time, unmotivated and unqualified employees trigger a plethora of negative consequences for the workforce.

As per the reports from Forbes, the cost of a bad hire is at least 30% of an average employee’s yearly earnings. Further, hiring wrong person in a team can also affect the company’s finances.

However, recruiting ideal candidates for every position is not an easy job.  While a candidate might have all the listed skills and qualifications, you cannot gauge upon how they are going to perform until they join the job.

Nevertheless, pre-employment tests can help! They are objective and standardized way of collecting data from candidates during the hiring process. Unlike other tests, pre-employment tests are not just confined to resume-hiring, in which the best candidate on the paper gets the job. Instead, they will help you evaluate the intangibles, to identify whether the candidate will swim or sink.

It features a set of tests and questionnaires to access individuals on the basis of cognitive abilities, critical thinking skills, personality attributes and other important factors that influence performance. You can learn all about the different types of pre-employment tests and their benefits at large by reading below.

Common Types Of Pre-Employment Tests:

Candidate can prepare for Pre-employment assessment tests under three categories, viz. Aptitude, personality and skill test.

Aptitude Test:

This test measures candidate’s critical thinking, problem-solving and their ability to learn, grasp and apply new things. According to a study, the two important qualities that most recruiters seek in a candidate are ability to learn new things and their problem-solving skills.

Personality Test:

Personality tests will give you the answers to questions like: will the candidate a right fit for the job? Does the employee have behavioral traits that can be linked to the position, and more? The will also help a recruiter measure candidates on the basis of traits like agreeableness, extraversion, openness, stress tolerance, conscientiousness and more.

Skill Test:

Skill test measures job-related competencies like candidate verbal skills, math and communication skills, and more to gauge upon its knowledge and thinking skills.

Three Reasons to Choose Pre-Employment Assessment in Your Hiring

They Are Objective:

Being prepared for Pre-employment assessment tests can help you with standardized and useful insights on the job seeker performance. Unlike one-on-one interviews, you will gauge upon a candidate’s application skills and other personality traits. You can access subject-area knowledge, problem-solving techniques, leadership ability, risk-taking skills, imitativeness, honesty, reliability and more of the job seeker.

It Increases Employee Retention:

Retaining talented people is equally important as hiring the best ones. With the test, you can screen candidates efficiently from personality traits to find the right fit for the job.  You can consider a candidate’s passion for learning, communication skills, collaboration skills, motivation, overall ambition and more.

It Increases Legal Defensibility:

Contrary to what other companies use, pre-employment test aims to increase the legal defensibility of the hiring process if used correctly. How?

  • Assessments used in the screening process provide objective data, opposite to the interviews, which are completely subjective. Through assessments, a candidate will get to know its numerical scores, and pass/fail status. This will also help companies defend their hiring process if someone questions their legality.
  • The traits that are measured during the process should be directly related to the job requirements process, which indirectly defines the hiring process.
  • Further, the criterion validation will give you the real data, which will strengthen the assessment process legally.

Pre-employment tests are the one element within a specific set of criteria, which is used to evaluate candidates, including job experience, education, interviews and more.

Some employers may even be required to screen prospective employees for drug use before extending an offer of employment. Your best bet as an applicant is to ensure that you pass a drug test and other physical or medical clearances.

Also, don’t look for an employee who just delivers good presentations. In fact, look for performers who can change the game and can take your business to another level.

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